The scandal over child sex abuse by Catholic priests flared again on Wednesday as Pope Benedict XVI prepared to take centre stage at the world’s biggest Christian festival in Sydney.
SYDNEY: The scandal over child sex abuse by Catholic priests flared again on Wednesday as Pope Benedict XVI prepared to take centre stage at the world’s biggest Christian festival in Sydney.
While more than 200,000 young pilgrims attended beach concerts, barbecues and religious classes, the head of the church in Australia Cardinal George Pell faced a threat of confrontation by the parents of two victims of abuse.
The pilgrims are in Sydney for World Youth Day celebrations, which will be led by the pope from Thursday at the end of his four-day holiday at a retreat on Sydney’s outskirts.
But the scandal over sex abuse by corrupt clergymen has partly overshadowed the festival, despite the pope’s pledge to apologise to victims as he did in the United States in April.
The father of two girls abused by a Melbourne priest, one of whom committed suicide, has said he and his wife would travel back to Australia from Europe within the next few days for a confrontation.
Anthony Foster told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. he would not accept an apology unless the pontiff also changed the way the church and its lawyers dealt with victims of sex abuse.
“I want them to set up a system which provides lifetime help to victims, a system where they beg forgiveness of the victims,” he said.
Foster said he planned to make a public statement when he arrived and would demand a response from the pope and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.
He said he hoped the pope would meet him to hear his demands for the church to adopt a new approach to the victims of abuse.
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